Not sure if this is rude (upsetting) to anyone but armourers ... but at each reenactors market I have been to I have had people explain to me that they love the look of the work and its execution (head swells and I feel good about myself ). Then they explain that they won't be buying anything from me though as it can't be battle ready as it looks nice and off they trot to buy stuff from someone else, then later they come back with some friends and explain to them that this is the stuff they mentioned before, but don't get any as its lovely looking but not really battle ready ...?

Thats really crap Graham, have you tried putting together a leaflet that might be available explaning the process of production and why people SHOULD be buying your stuff because it has both strength and aesthetic quality?

I'm not a medievalist, and please correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't period correct gothic armours etc have amazing aesthetic quality but with the correct thickness of material in strategic locations that meant it was both a conspicuous consumption of wealth and protective?

Treaty, I think you may have hit upon why I will never be a millionaire in any industry. I did think about producing something like that but when I had drafted it I wasn't happy with the way it read; more like a rant and complaint than an eductional and useful document, so I abandoned the idea. I have read some other peoples attempts at similar pieces (where I can find them) and for the most part they read to me as rants against other armourers and how they make the best stuff on the planet. I certainly don't want to rant against other armourers and don't believe that I make the best stuff, so for the time being I'll probably leave it as it is until I become a proper old man (only 41 at the moment) and turn into a proper ranting, cantankerous old fellah that no one pays any attentin to anyhoo

It's a fine balancing act to write something short, informative and useful that doesn't sound like a critique or an ego-boost. We've written a number of things over the years, given as handouts or put online, and every time there's been someone who imagines that it's directed at them, even when it's a general guide to buying things.

Putting information on the displays is also difficult as many people will not bother to read it or on occasion will nick the information as they presume it's a handout for them to take home!

We also occasionally put a display card out as a test to see if people read the damn things. It says something about Mike being the beadmaker, and says if they read the card they can ask for a free bead. In two years of having the card on the stand, we've only given one free bead away.

I was at an arts and crafts event today and talking with a lady there who recycles fabrics etc into nice items. A photographer overheard me talking with the lady about the leatherwork I do and he proclaimed loudly that most medieval people did not wear shoes. The lady and I both stared at the photographer and I asked him how he could prove such a sweeping statement, to which he replied "I've read Chaucers Canterbury tales and it says it there." I tried to explain to him that yes, a few people could not afford shoes at all but even poor people could get shoes from a cobbler and some where even donated by those better off. I even asked him how many poor people in modern England walk around without shoes? He just sneered and walked away and left us shaking our heads.
I am open to correction if I'm wrong here.

Hi there, I make just normal, bespoke armour; I wouldn't say that this is a common occurrence, but generally happens in one form or another at the big markets. Not just me either, contact with a couple of other armourers has revealed similar things, certainly with them. If I am honest, I suspect that the cost of bespoke armour is probably more to do with it when compared to starter costs for off the shelf items. I regularly hear tales of people going after the posh looking guys at Tewkesbury (and the other big meets) to dent up their armour ...

Like I say probably more a reflection of the costs of buying the kit bespoke vs off the shelf than anything else

I don't loose much sleep over it, just thought it was funny enough to mention here.

I can vouch for that after finding Fox "dead" at Tewkesbury after some one had hit him hard enough to dent some top quality armour. Some of the Indian off the shelf stuff I've looked at (with no intention of buying) looks like its make out of bean cans, to my mind its a good way of getting hurt (from the d-heads out there). Fox's armour may have had some dents but he didn't has his chest caved in and he walked away.